, 1887-11-22
SOME STRANGE ANrlpArAles.
Remarkable Instances by Way of Illus
irrational Dog at a Feast.

Of'-
Remarkable instances by Way of Illus
tration-A Dog at a Feast.
1t seems absolutely incredible that Peter
the Great, the father of the Russian navy,
should shudder at the sight of water,
whether running or still, yet SO it was,
especially when alone. His palace gar
dens, beautiful as they were, he never
entered, because the river Mosera flowed
through them. His coachman had or
ders to avoid all roads which led past
streams, and if compelled to pass a brook
or bridge the great emperor would sit
with closed windows in a cold perspira-
ton. Another monarch, James l. the
English Solomon, as he liked to be called,
had many antipathies, chiefly tobacco,
ling and pork. He never overcame his
inability to look with composure at a
drawn sword, and it is said that on one
occasion, when giving the accolade, the
king turned his face aside, nearly wound
ing the new made knight.
Henry III, of France, had so great n
dislike to cats that he tainted at the sight
of one. We suppose that in this case
the cat had to waive its pfoverbial pre-
rogative and could not look at a king.
This will seem as absurd as extraordinary
" lduN lONtIS VI ludI lhuCh ptll6u AMI
NAL; but what are we to say of the
Countess of Lamballe, of unhappy his
tory, to whom a violet was e thing of
horror? Even this is not without its
precedent, for it is on record that Vim
cent, the painter, was seized with vertigo
and swooned at the smell of roses. Scali-
ger states that one of his relations was
made ill at the sight of a lily, and he
himself would turn pale at the sight of
water crosses and could never drink milk.
Charles Kingsley, naturalist as he was TO
the core, had a great horror of spiders,
and in ''Glaucus," after saying that
every one seems to have his %antipathic
animal, continues: 81 know one (him-
self bred from his childhood to zoology
by land and sea, and bold in asserting
and honest in feeling hat all without ex-
ception is beautiful, who yet cannot,
after handling and petting and examin-
ing, all day long, every uncouth and
venomous beast, avoid a paroxysm of
horror at the sight of the common house
spider" The writer shares in this dis
like to a painful extent; in this case it is
inherited from his grandfather. The
genial author of the Turkish Spy says
that he would far prefer, sword in hand.
to face a lion in his desert lair than have
a spider crawl over him in the dark.
The cat, as we have previously men,
toned, has repeatedly been an object of
aversion. The Duke of Shomberg,
though a ~redoubtable soldier, would not
sit in the same room with a cat. A
courier of the Emperor Ferdinand carried
this dislike so far as to bleed at the nose
on hearing a cat new. A well known
officer of her majesty's army, who has
proved his strength and courage in more
than n campaign, turns pale at the
sight of a cat. On one occasion, when
asked out to dinner, his host, who was
rather skeptical as to the reality of this
feeling, concealed a cat in an ottoman in
the dining room. Dinner was announced
and commenced, but his guest was evil
IDENTIFY ill at ease, and at length declared
his inability to go on eating, as he was
sure there was a cat in the room. An
apparently thorough but unavailing
search was made, but his visitor was so
completely upset that the host, with
many apologies for his experiment, 'Tlet
the cat out of the bag and out of the
ottoman at the same time. Lord Lander
dale, on the other hand, declared that the
mewing of a cat was to him sweeter than
any music, while he had the greatest dis
like to the lutte and the bagpipe. In this
latter aversion he was by no means sing
ular.
Dogs, too, have come in for their share
of dislike. De Musset cordially detested
them. When a candidate for the acad-
envy he called upon a prominent member.
At the gate of the chateau a dirty, ugly
dog received him most a~ffectionately and
insisted on preceding him into the draw
ing ROOM, De Musset cursing his friends
prediction for the brute. The academi-
clan entered and they adjourned to the
dining room, the dog at their heels.
Selling his opportunity the dog placed
his muddy paws upon the spotless cloth
and carried off a bonnie bouche. 1.-THE
wretch wants ~shootingi' was De Musset's
muttered thought, but he politely said:
"You are fond of dogs, 1 seer"
"Fond of dogs?' retorted the academic
clan; 81 hate them!''
"But this animal here queried De
Musset; II have only tolerated it because
l thought it was yours, sir"
"Minel" exclaimed the poet, 1.-the
thought that it was yours alone kept me
from killing him,''- Cassell's Family
Magazine,